Online brokerages are companies that allow you to set up an investment account with them and buy and sell investments.� The purpose of setting up one of these accounts is for someone who is a “do-it-yourself” investor and can buy investments without the help of an advisor.� An investor can have an advisor and still do some investing in a discount brokerage account.�� Don’t be afraid to tell the advisor about your investments so they can include them in your asset allocation.� If they make� a big stink about it then find a new advisor!
What kind of investor has an online brokerage account?
There are many different types of investors.�� Some investors do everything on their own without any help from anyone.� Other investors refuse to do anything for themselves and want a financial advisor to do everything for them. These are examples of investors extremes – there are a lot of successful investors who are somewhere in between.� Many people will use a financial advisor for some of their accounts but not all – others might use a fee-only advisor for general advice and suggestions and then will carry out the ideas on their own at an online brokerage.� Regardless of what type of investor you might be – it’s important to at least know about the option of doing it yourself.
What do you do with an online brokerage account?
The basic steps with an online account are:
- Set up the account at a discount brokerage such as�
or Zecco. - Fund the account with some money or with investments from another brokerage.
- Start making purchases in the new account.� This will be accomplished online.
When it comes to financial planning – buying the actual investments is pretty far down the priority list – there are many other steps to accomplish first such as figuring out your financial goals, investment time horizon and asset allocation.
